Charlottetown transition housing facility delayed; will open this fall

The opening of a transitional housing complex planned for Charlottetown has been delayed.

A 28-bed facility in the former Smith Lodge building had been slated to open this summer, and offer transitional housing to men, women and children. 

But officials with the province say it won't be ready until the fall, largely due to COVID-19 slowdowns. And when it does open, the facility will offer only 16 beds.

Shelly Cole, a program analyst with the Department of Social Development and Housing, says the now-acknowledged best practice across the country calls for "providing additional spaces, larger spaces, and single bedrooms for occupants of supportive housing arrangements." 

At least at first, only nine beds will be made available, and to men only — a change Coles said came in response to the current needs in the community.

There's some wisdom in starting small and learning our valuable lessons as we go along.- Shelly Cole, housing program analyst with P.E.I. government

"When we look at our data from the emergency housing line, and when we look at the data from the outreach centre and we look at the data from the number of bed nights in our men's shelters, and we compare that to the demand for women's services of very same nature, there is a far greater demand for men's services," said Cole. "It's currently at a proportion of about two men for every one woman."

Help offered for up to a year

Cole said the supportive housing will be available for periods of time from one month to one year. 

"So we're looking at a 12-month period where individuals will seek and receive assistance with employment, with counselling, with mental health and addictions, with basic life skills like budgeting, accounting and meal preparation," said Cole.

Once the facility is opened, and the province and community partners are able to assess what's working and what isn't, she said decisions on how and when to open up more rooms will be easier to make. 

"I think there's some wisdom in starting small and learning our valuable lessons as we go along."

Right now, renovations are underway to make structural improvements to the building, and to make it more accessible. Cole said a firm opening date for the supportive housing facility will depend on how quickly that work can get done; budgets for that work haven't yet been firmed up.

Outreach Centre temporarily relocated, again

Meanwhile, the community outreach centre that was initially located on Euston Street and then was temporarily relocated to Birchwood Intermediate School is temporarily occupying a portion of the Smith Lodge building. 

Cole said the province has set a target of one year to find a new, permanent home for the centre, that was initially intended as a pilot project that would run from January to April of 2020

"We certainly hope that we'll find a permanent, forever home for the outreach centre before that timeframe," said Cole. 

"But it very much is a collective effort by our community partners and ourselves. And location is really important to ensure that we're meeting the needs of the clients in the places where they are. So we have an active search underway, and time will tell."

One factor in securing a location for the outreach centre is finding permanent long-term funding for it.

Back in January, the province allocated about $50,000 to cover rent and operational costs until the pilot project wrapped on April 1st. But Cole said that pilot was never completed, due to COVID-19, and the centre has been running on a small amount of funding secured through the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness in the interim, thanks to a member of the working group that's overseeing the centre. 

"Tthe outreach centre is certainly a project that government is interested in and invested in, but it isn't a problem or a solution that government can come up with on its own, so it relies on these important partnerships, and developing a sustainable funding model is a big piece of that work."